Utility and telecommunications companies have for some time been installing all dielectric cable, e.g., fiber optic cable, to upgrade cable systems and to overcome the problems associated with bonding and grounding a metallic presence to cable. Dielectric cable systems, however, present new problems in locating previously installed underground systems for upgrade and repair. Dielectric cable cannot be remotely located once buried underground.
Methods to locate buried cable systems include pothole drilling. Pothole drilling involves exploratory drilling that can be slow and costly, and can often pose risks of damage or destruction of buried cable. In addition, pothole drilling typically must rely on cable installation records that may be lost, are inaccurate or are no longer useful due to landmark changes.
Whenever possible, permanent service or tracer wires, e.g., copper service wires, and other detectable media are installed alongside underground cable to provide a detectable means for remotely locating specific cables and systems. Installing detectable media, however, can only be performed when a cable system is being upgraded, re-routed and/or moved from a particular site. In addition, installation of service and tracer wires is a slow and costly procedure that often requires exploratory drilling to locate cables and cable systems.